Abraham, F. Murray

Along with Whoopi “Guinan” Goldberg, Star Trek can also count another Academy Award winner in its acting family with F. Murray Abraham, who played the ruthless Son’a commander Ru'afo in 1998’s feature film Star Trek: Insurrection.His Oscar-winning role, of course, came as the composer Antonio Salieri recounting his lifelong rivalry with Mozart in 1984’s Amadeus; it also netted him the Golden Globe.

Abraham, a 1939 native of Pittsburgh, Pa., was raised in El Paso, Texas, studied with Uta Hagen in New York and then debuted on stage in Los Angeles. Abraham actually continued to focus on stage roles after his Amadeus honors and an appearance in The Name of the Rose with Sean Connery; his film career has mostly been eclectic and wide-ranging, with notable roles in Mighty Aphrodite and Finding Forrester. Along with his stage career, he has narrated the PBS series Nature for several years.